Sneezewort

Another productive and enjoyable day. Pete set off early to a site in Bedfordshire, while I put the finishing touches to a report which was submitted by mid-morning. 

Alex and I then went off to Thorpe Meadows, where he's monitoring some newly created ponds. After days of mostly cloudy weather, the sun returned, making our expedition very hot, sticky and uncomfortable. The worst part was making our way through huge swathes of Bristly Ox-tongue which sent out clouds of irritant hairs, that made me sneeze and itch.

Coincidentally one of the more interesting plants that we found round hs ponds was Sneezewort Achillea ptarmica. This is a very local plant in eastern England, being particularly associated with unimproved flood meadows. Although we were in the flood plain of the Nene, I've never recorded it in Peterborough before. It's much more frequent in most of the rest of Britain, inhabiting a variety of damp, usually acid, habitats.

Like its close relative Yarrow, it has many traditional uses. The roots were used to induce sneezing (not to cure it!).Chewing the roots of Sneezewort was a recommended treatment (if not a guaranteed cure) for toothache - although whether the offending tooth was to be sneezed out of its socket remains unclear! In the past, dried and powdered leaves from this plant were been used as a 'sneezing powder'. The botanical name Achillea stems from the belief that Achilles used flowers of this genus to cure his soldiers' wounds; ptarmica, the specific epithet, comes Greek and means to cause a sneeze.


The rest of the day was spent in the garden - mowing the lawn and trimming back yet more overgrown shrubs. Ben then helped me prepare a Korean beef bowl, served with green tea noodles, chicken dumplings and a huge vegetable and black-bean stir-fry, which was completed just as Pete returned home.